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American Cosmic
American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology | D.W. Pasulka
2 posts | 2 read | 1 reading | 1 to read
More than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions. Over the course of a six-year ethnographic study, D.W. Pasulka interviewed successful and influential scientists, professionals, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe in extraterrestrial intelligence, thereby disproving the common misconception that only fringe members of society believe in UFOs. She argues that widespread belief in aliens is due to a number of factors including their ubiquity in modern media like The X-Files, which can influence memory, and the believability lent to that media by the search for planets that might support life. American Cosmic explores the intriguing question of how people interpret unexplainable experiences, and argues that the media is replacing religion as a cultural authority that offers believers answers about non-human intelligent life.
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Ephemera
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This is quite an interesting book. Written by a female professor of religious studies at UNC, it touches on parallels between religion and UFO encounters. The book also discusses how humans process visual material, what consciousness is and how it works, and how technology impacts our lives. Are some humans in touch with alien consciousness? Have you ever had thoughts or ideas you knew were not your own? Give this book a go. Five stars

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Jocelyn73c
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This was a fascinating approach to examining the alien/UFO obsession in the US 👽🛸 Pasulka talks about the connection between religion, the rise in UFO sightings, and modern technology and media. It was also pretty much a bummer to me as a librarian who teaching digital media literacy because Pasulka basically argues that we're living in a Matrix of our own making and no one cares GREAT 🙃